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Porto may be in trouble after taking referee out for some dinner

Bjorn Kuipers – Scandalous

The Spoiler has had some disastrous dinners in the past. We’ve sat there while a prospective partner has actually cried, we’ve got food poisoning from rubbish pâté and we’ve even plumped for red wine after ordering fish! Nightmare!

All of which leads us seamlessly into the fact that Porto honchos Rienaldo Teles and Antonio Garrido were seen schmoozing with referee Bjorn Kuipers before Porto’s Europa League semi-final first leg against Villarreal – a game Kuipers was actually reffing…

Spanish paper Marca is reporting that Villareal – who lost the game 5-1 – are reporting Porto to the same branch of UEFA that is dealing with the fallout from Barcelona’s Champions League semi final with Real Madrid.

The trio are apparently in violation of Article 20.08 of the UEFA regulations that says:

“During their stay at the match venue, the referees are taken care of by a referee liaison officer, who is an official representative of the national association of the home club.”

The plot reaches a thickness normally only obtained by members of Blue when you consider that all three of the gentlemen were accused of corruption in the Apito Dourado (Golden Whistle) scandal in 2007.

In fact, all three gentlemen were recorded arranging to fix matches but, because the evidence was inadmissible, they were all cleared.

However, the scandal saw Porto deducted six points and Porto President Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa suspended for two years (although he was later cleared).

Nothing has been decided yet, but The Spoiler just thought what with all the hoo-haa around Mourinho and accusations of Barca bias, it was pretty interesting to know that there are genuine concerns at such a lofty level.

Villarreal look like they’ll need more than a dodgy ref to overturn a 5-1 deficit in second leg though…